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Foreign ministers of two countries agree to deepen the strategic partnership as they discuss developments in the Indo-Pacific and Afghanistan.
The French foreign minister has agreed with his Indian counterpart to work on a program aimed at promoting “a genuine multilateral international order”, the French foreign ministry said.
Jean-Yves Le Drian and Subrahmanyam Jaishankar also agreed during a call to deepen their strategic partnership, “based on a relationship of political trust between two great sovereign nations of the Indo-Pacific,” the ministry said on Saturday in a statement.
The two ministers agreed to meet in New York next week, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, to work “on a common program of concrete actions to jointly defend a truly multilateral international order,” he said. -he adds.
For his part, Jaishankar said in a Twitter post that they were discussing “developments in the Indo-Pacific and Afghanistan.”
I discussed recent developments in the Indo-Pacific and Afghanistan with my friend FM @JY_LeDrian Looking forward to our meeting in New York.
– Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) September 18, 2021
France has been campaigning for several years for a European strategy to strengthen economic, political and defense ties in the region from India and China to Japan and New Zealand. The European Union unveiled its plan for the Indo-Pacific this week.
The phone call came a day after the French government recalled its ambassadors to the United States and Australia after Canberra abandoned a multibillion-dollar order for French submarines in favor of partnership with Washington and London in the Indo-Pacific region.
Calling the cancellation “unacceptable behavior”, Le Drian said in a statement Friday that the decision to recall the envoys, at the request of President Emmanuel Macron, “is justified by the exceptional gravity of the announcements” made by Australia and United States.
A White House official said on Friday that the United States regrets France’s decision and will continue to engage in the coming days to resolve disputes between the two countries.
Australia said on Saturday it also regrets France’s move, adding that it values its relationship with France and will continue to engage with Paris on many other issues.
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